It was on Friday January 19, 2024 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed search warrants and raided the homes of 3 Albuquerque Police officers and the home and law offices of prominent DWI criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear, III and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez. All those targeted with a search warrant are accused of being involved in a bribery and conspiracy scheme to dismiss DWI cases.
Over the last year and four months, the investigation has evolved into the single largest law enforcement corruption case in the city’s history involving APD, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico State Police with no end in sight.
Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman has had to dismiss more than 272 DWI cases involving law enforcement officers linked to the federal case and due to police officer credibility being called into question in the cases where they made the DWI arrests.
More than a year into their investigation, the FBI continues to seek out those who participated in the near 30-year criminal enterprise in which law enforcement officers coordinated with defense attorney Thomas Clear, III and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez to get drunken driving cases thrown out of court by paying bribes to arresting officers.
An alarming wrinkle in the investigation is determining to what extent were APD Internal Affairs officers involved with using their positions and influence to deflect or not investigate or disciplined APD Officers involved in the DWI scheme to dismiss cases for bribes.
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL REPORT
On April 13, the Albuquerque Journal published a remarkable front page article with the banner headline “The tip that went nowhere” and sub headline “How a former DWI officer who rose to the highest levels of APD did ‘nothing’ with a tip targeting a deadeslong corruption sheme”. The article was written by Journal Staff reporters Matthew Reisen and Colleen Heild.
Following is a quoted an edited and condensed version of the article, with “subtitles” added to assist the reader, detailing the factual basis of how the tip was ignored by Commander of Internal Affairs Mark Landavazo:
“In June 2022, acting Commander of Internal Affairs Mark Landavazo was forwarded a civilian complaint from the FBI. The allegations, if true, were damning, explosive and specific to the DWI unit. Landavazo started in the DWI Unit before rising to the upper echelons of APD. Landavazo has not been criminally charged but was terminated by APD.
The subject line of the complaint read “Possible corruption involving an Albuquerque Police Department officer and Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque.” The FBI complaint described bribery and extortion involving DWI officer Joshua Montaño, attorney Thomas Clear III and his right-hand man Rick Mendez, all three familiar faces to Landavazo.
Recently obtained APD records state that Landavazo “had seemingly not done anything” with the complaint, which gave an account from a 21-year-old college student arrested by Montaño. Investigators say the tip, at the very least, should have gone to the desk of Police Chief Harold Medina and into an Internal Affairs (IA) file for open investigations. And, they say, Landavazo knew better. But the corruption, which had gone on for nearly three decades, would continue another 18 months until January 2024, when the FBI raided Clear’s office and the homes of Mendez and several officers, including Montaño.
Numerous policy violations uncovered during an internal APD probe into what happened with the FBI’s tip led to Landavazo being disciplined for mishandling the complaint and fired for violating confidentiality. Landavazo was deemed to have been “untruthful” about a friendly relationship with Mendez, one that continued long after the FBI complaint came in.
Landavazo said he didn’t know the details or who was being accused and consulted his supervisor, Maj. Zak Cottrell, before telling an FBI agent to send the tip to the city’s Civilian Police Oversight Advisory Board. Investigators said during interviews with APD, Landavazo made it clear he was “aware of the details of the complaint.” Landavazo said he told Cottrell about the tip. Cottrell denied being made aware.
[Quoting one finding of the investigation]:
“The investigation found that Cmdr. Landavazo did not, truthfully nor fully, answer questions specifically directed at him … Landavazo’s answers were inconsistent from one interview to the next and even within the same interview.”
[TWO SEPARATE INTERNAL AFFAIRS INVESTIGATIONS]
There were two separate Internal Affairs Investigations involving former Commander of Internal Affairs Mark Landavazo. Following is a discussion of each:
[FIRST INVESTIGATION]
“A month after the FBI raids, on Feb. 12, an investigation was opened into Landavazo after the complaint resurfaced. He was placed on paid leave and IA investigators interviewed him about how the tip was handled.
Investigators had the FBI send the email chain between the agent and Landavazo, in which the agent reached out with “a referral from a citizen,” adding, “however, given the nature of the referral (I) want to confirm you are the correct individual to send it to.” Landavazo responded that he would be “more than happy to assist” but told the agent that citizen complaints must go through the Civilian Police Oversight Advisory Board. He added, “feel free to give me a call.”
Investigators say Landavazo told them the agent did speak with him on the phone, and the email chain shows the agent sent the complaint minutes later. But when asked for the email chain, Landavazo turned over a printed copy that didn’t include the final email with the complaint attached.
The case report states:
“It’s clear that Landavazo chose to omit this email from his interview with IA as it was so clearly a possible policy violation that the DWI officers were involved in, and a criminal matter, that any other employee would have known to initiate a case and notify the Chief of Police immediately.”
Investigators say Landavazo told them he informed Cottrell of the complaint, but Cottrell said he was never informed. Superintendent of Police Reform Eric Garcia wrote this in his investigation report:
“This is a ‘he said/he said’ situation that cannot be verified to determine credibility for either party. … While Commander Landavazo’s actions do not rise to the level of untruthfulness, they do cast doubt on his integrity and honesty.”
Garcia imposed a 48-hour suspension for three policy violations related to mishandling the complaint.
The investigation uncovered messages and content on Landavazo’s phone that spurred a second investigation, one that focused on his relationship with Mendez. The revelations would ultimately get Commander Mark Landavazo fired.”
[SECOND INVESTIGATION]
“The second Internal Affairs investigation was opened before the first had wrapped up. The first investigation uncovered messages and content on Landavazo’s phone that spurred a second investigation, one that focused on his relationship with Mendez. The revelations would ultimately get him fired.
Through interviews, text messages and investigation, it was found that Landavazo discussed a confidential IA case with Mendez in 2023 and was dishonest about their relationship.
Garcia wrote in the IA filings:
“Upon reading the text exchanges that Commander Landavazo had with Mr. Mendez, it is clear that they had more than just a professional relationship.”
According to the investigation, Landavazo met Mendez outside police headquarters on Feb. 27, 2023. Mendez brought up a misconduct case against Sgt. Brian Johnson and called Johnson to tell him “the case had been settled.”
Johnson has not been tied to the corruption scheme or accused of any wrongdoing. It is unclear why Mendez wanted to be the one to tell Johnson the IA case, which had nothing to do with DWI corruption, had been settled.
When Mendez called, Johnson “expressed confusion, questioning why Mr. Mendez knew about his case and why he was calling.” Landavazo got on the phone “and confirmed the case, saying, ‘Everything’s good,’” the investigation found.
An hour later, Mendez texted Landavazo saying thanks and “you made me sound like the hero” with a superhero emoji. Landavazo replied, “only cuz it was you.” According to the investigation
“Landavazo confirmed this conversation was regarding Cmdr. Landavazo, having made Mr. Mendez look good in front of Sgt. Johnson.”
Johnson turned over his phone to investigators, who found Mendez’s number saved as “APD Rick Lawyer Tom.”
Landavazo told investigators “it was inappropriate” to have discussed Johnson’s case with Mendez, according to the files. He “could not explain why he had done so, other than to say Mr. Mendez was the first to ever ask and that he was gullible and naïve.”
Landavazo told investigators he had not seen Mendez in eight to 10 years prior to that. He said he knew Mendez and Clear through going to Clear’s office for pretrial interviews as a DWI officer “and that they had no relationship outside of that.”
In other messages with Mendez, the pair set up lunch dates, wished each other happy holidays, and discussed their families.
Landavazo initially told investigators he had lunch with Mendez only once and did not mention a second occasion. Landavazo declined to provide a receipt from the second lunch with Mendez and wouldn’t cooperate further. According to Internal Affairs investigative report files:
“Landavazo also was aware of the seriousness of the criminal allegations against Mr. Mendez at the time of his first interview, and his lack of candor raises questions about his motivations and relationship with Mr. Mendez.”
The messages between the two concluded with Mendez sending Landavazo a Happy New Year gift on Jan. 1, 2024. A few weeks later FBI agents would raid Mendez’s home and the homes of several officers with whom Landavazo once worked.
[FOUR MOVED TO INTERNAL AFFAIRS]
“Since 2015, four former DWI Unit officers were moved to Internal Affairs: Landavazo, Daren DeAguero, Zak Cottrell and Dominic Martinez. Only Landavazo and DeAguero have been tied to the decades-long bribery scheme.
DeAguero, who had previously served as an APD spokesperson, resigned before a planned interview with IA on the case.
Cottrell was responsible for promoting Landavazo to Acting Commander [of Internal Affairs] in early 2022 after Cottrell was elevated to major.
During the internal investigation, a group text from Landavazo’s phone revealed a conversation in which he, Cottrell and Martinez expressed frustration with the lead investigator in the DWI corruption case Cmdr. Kyle Hartsoc calling him ‘a pussy’ and another investigator a ‘knuckle draggin monkey’.”
[APD CHIEF HAROLD MEDINA REACTS]
“In a recent interview with the Albuquerque Journal, Chief Medina said this:
“Landavazo, we feel, protected the scheme … We know there’s a relationship to Mendez, and we have the complaint that died. … It makes you wonder, did they always have somebody in IA [Internal Affairs]? I don’t know that. … That is still stuff we’re trying to get through and to see who’s involved. I’ll be 100% honest. I don’t think we’ve gotten everybody.”
It is unclear why the FBI waited a few months to pass the 2022 tip to APD and whether the federal agency did anything after the initial tip went nowhere. Albuquerque attorney Daymon Ely contacted the FBI on behalf of the tipster and took a sworn affidavit from him. The tipster told the Journal he received a phone call from an FBI agent seeking an interview more than a year later, in September 2023.
In response to Albuquerque Journal questions, an FBI spokesperson from the Albuquerque office said this in an email:
“It’s common for the FBI to refer complaints to the appropriate tribal, state and local agencies. However, due to the ongoing nature of this investigation, at this time, we cannot comment on the factors that dictated the timeline.”
Medina said he couldn’t blame the agency for not doing more at the time. Medina said this:
“They gave it to a commander for God’s sake, that is a high rank. … You would assume, ‘Hey, this person is passing it off.’ I don’t think anyone could have imagined how big this truly was.”
The link to review the full unedited Albuquerque Journal report is here:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/tip-went-nowhere-high-ranking-140700002.html
WHEN DID MEDINA FIRST KNOW ABOUT CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE AND WHAT DID HE DO ABOUT IT
On January 29, KRQE News published a revealing report on the bribery scheme to dismiss DWI Cases. Chief Medina discussed what he knew and how the investigation unfolded. Following is transcript of the entire KRQE news report:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s been a year since the public learned of the massive corruption scandal involving a scheme to make DWI cases disappear. Federal documents last week, shed more light on the conspiracy involving police officers and attorneys that dates back more than two decades.
So when did the Albuquerque Police Department’s leadership start to get wise? KRQE Investigative Reporter Ann Pierret sat down with the chief about what he knew and when.
A conversation at a bar is what APD Chief Harold Medina said eventually led to the criminal investigation into the department’s DWI unit. In December of 2022, thirteen months before the community learned of the corruption scandal, a five-page “intel file” showed that APD received a tip from a concerned citizen who shared “DWI officers described how some members of the unit would get paid to get a case dismissed.”
The caller claimed workers at three bars in the northeast heights tipped off officers about customers leaving their establishments. “We did an analysis, and we looked at traffic stops, and we looked to see if we saw traffic stops that were condensed around certain liquor establishments. And we didn’t see that pattern,” said Chief Medina.
So what now? “I knew something was going on. I just didn’t know what. And that’s when the decision was made that we’re going to keep this as quiet as possible,” said Chief Medina.
Chief Medina said at that point only a handful of his staff knew. Without explaining, he asked to change his Monday meeting agenda to include an update from Internal Affairs. “Every week I get a case – a list of cases that came in and I would look through that list to see if there’s anything related to this DWI scheme because I knew that something was going to come in,” said Chief Medina.
But he said the FBI would call first, nearly a year later in October 2023 letting him know they’ve been investigating. KRQE News 13 learned at least one of their tips came from Albuquerque Attorney Daymon Ely. “I was outraged. I mean, I should be. We should all be outraged,” said Ely.
Ely told KRQE News 13 that two people contacted him separately sharing the details we now know made up the scheme. “The day they came in I let the FBI know. And I didn’t contact APD because they obviously have a conflict,” said Ely.
The chief later learned the FBI contacted APD’s Internal Affairs Unit in June of 2022. APD said IA Commander Mark Landavazo told the feds it wasn’t a case he’d handle, it was a citizen complaint. However, because there were criminal allegations, APD said Landavazo should have moved it up the chain. The department fired him over this in February of 2024.
A month after the FBI filled in Chief Medina, in November of 2023, more evidence. Another citizen complaint had been filed. This one to the Civilian Police Oversight Agency from a district court employee. In her letter, she shared a former coworker received a DWI and “there may be questionable conduct by the arresting/citation officer” who put the driver in contact with a specific attorney “who if hired, would ensure that no court case would be filed in court by APD.”
Since officers are informed about citizen complaints, the department jumped to quash that investigation which Chief Medina said prompted an “emergency meeting” with the FBI.
The link to the KRQE New report is here:
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
ROLE OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS
APD’s Internal Affairs (IA) Unit investigates complaints against APD employees and officers. The IA unit’s purpose is to ensure professionalism and accountability within the department. The IA unit conducts administrative investigations into policy violations, misconduct, and use of force. The IA unit recommends discipline for policy, training, and equipment deficiencies. It’s damn disgusting when it is reported that at least two, if not more, APD Police officers were involved or implicated in the scandal to accept bribes to dismiss DWI cases and later assigned to APD Internal Affairs.
In one interview with the Journal for the article quoted above, Chief Medina said this:
“It makes you wonder, did they always have somebody in [Internal Affairs]? I don’t know that. … That is still stuff we’re trying to get through and to see who’s involved.”
The Journal now reports in its April 13 article “Since 2015, four former DWI Unit officers were moved to Internal Affairs: Landavazo, Daren DeAguero, Zak Cottrell and Dominic Martinez. Only Landavazo and DeAguero have been tied to the decades-long bribery scheme.
Attorney Thomas Clear and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez both admitted in their plea agreements asking senior members of the DWI bribery scheme to “use their positions and influence within APD” to try to ensure that involved officers “were not investigated or disciplined in connection with their illegal activity.”
Chief Medina’s comments raises two red flag questions:
- Who were the senior members of the DWI bribery scheme did Thomas Clear and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez ask to “use their positions and influence within APD” to try to ensure that involved officers “were not investigated or disciplined in connection with their illegal activity.”
- How many APD supervisors and Internal Affairs officers knew of the corruption and how far up APD’s existing chain of command does the corruption really go?
MARK LANDAVAZO AND GUSTAVO GOMEZ
At least two former-DWI officers who were assigned and who worked in APD Internal Affairs were placed on leave in the case after being implicated in the bribery scandal. Their assignment to Internal Affairs raises the question as to what extent was the work of Internal Affairs compromised by them and for how long?
It was on August 1, 2024, APD announced that it had fired APD Commander of Internal Affairs for Professional Standards Mark Landavazo. He had been on administrative leave and under investigation since February 13, 2024. Landavazo started with APD in 2007 and was with the DWI unit from 2008 through 2013. It was the online news outlet City Desk ABQ that reported in the summer of 2024 it had obtained emails that showed the FBI had forwarded a tip in June of 2022 to Landavazo about an officer working with attorney Thomas Clear, III and his paralegal to guarantee a DWI charge would go away if the defendant paid $10,000. According to those emails, Landavazo suggested the FBI special agent contact the Civilian Police Oversight Agency and said that APD Internal Affairs did not handle such citizens complaints. Landavazo was terminated by APD over how he handled the FBI tip.
On October 16, 2024, APD Deputy Commander Gustavo Gomez, with APD’s Internal Affairs Force Division, was placed on paid administrative leave in relation to the DWI dismissal and bribery scandal. He had been with APD since 2008. Gomez was a DWI officer from 2010 to 2013. Gomez was named Deputy Commander of the Internal Affairs Force Division in January 2024.
Both Landavazo and Gomez, as employees of Internal Affairs, had access to all personnel files of police officers being investigated for nefarious conduct. That would include cases where APD officers were accepting bribes for the dismissal of DWI cases. Both could have deflected investigations of officers involved with DWI Enterprise.
Landavazo’s and Gomez’s work history with Internal Affairs raises the serious question:
Did Mark Landavazo or Gustavo Gomez ever “use their positions and influence within APD” to try to ensure that implicated officers in the DWI scheme “were not investigated or disciplined in connection with their activity” and if so when and for what reasons?
JANUARY 19 KRQE NEWS STORY
The KRQE January 19 news story calls into question the ability of APD Chief Medina to manage APD. It reveals a Chief of Police who was obsessed with trying to keep under wraps a major scandal involving criminal activity by APD Officers in an effort to allow himself and APD to investigate their own, that he failed to quickly act, that his hand was forced to act by an FBI investigation and that he failed to turn the criminal investigation over to federal authorities in a timely manner.
Medina revealed in his January 29 interview that he knew about the corruption back in December 2022, a full thirteen months before the community learned of the corruption scandal, when a five-page “intelligence file” showed that APD received a tip from a concerned citizen who shared “DWI officers described how some members of the unit would get paid to get a case dismissed.”
The intelligence report said “workers at three bars in the northeast heights tipped off officers about customers leaving their establishments.” The acting sergeant for the Criminal Intelligence Unit in his December 10, 2022 Intelligence memo to the Commander of the Investigative Services Division specifically requested permission to gather intelligence on the 7 APD Officers then assigned to the DWI unit to identify further criminal activity or other parties involved. Ostensibly, no effort was made by APD to contact the workers at the 3 bars to verify the information nor to try and identify the APD officers involved. Instead, Medina ordered an analysis of “traffic stops condensed around the liquor establishments” to determine if there was a pattern of DWI arrests.
Medina said in his interview “I knew something was going on. I just didn’t know what. And that’s when the decision was made that we’re going to keep this as quiet as possible.” Medina said only a handful of his staff knew what was going on and that he wanted to keep it as quiet as possible. In other words, Medina did not want anyone outside of his department to know what was going on with the DWI unit and he had no intention of calling in another law enforcement agency to investigate to avoid the appearance of a conflict.
Medina did not order the immediate suspension of the DWI unit nor order an immediate active Internal Affairs Investigation. Instead, he had Internal Affairs give him a weekly update on DWI arrests hoping a pattern would emerge on the DWI scheme.
In his January 29 KRQE interview, Medina admitted that it was the FBI that called him first, nearly a year later in October 2023, letting him know they had been investigating the case and APD Officers. Medina also said he learned the FBI contacted APD’s Internal Affairs Commander Mark Landavazo in June of 2022.
Landavazo told the FBI it was not a case he would handle because it was a citizen complaint. Landavazo had to know what was going on for some time in that Medina had ordered updates of DWI cases to try and determine a pattern of arrests himself. Because there were criminal allegations involving police misconduct, APD said Landavazo should have moved it up the chain of command. The department fired Landavazo in February of 2024.
In November of 2023, a month after the FBI contacted Chief Medina about its investigation, more evidence of the bribery scheme was given to Medina in the form of a citizen complaint to the Civilian Police Oversight Agency from a district court employee. It was reported that a court employee was arrested for DWI by an APD cop and that “there may be questionable conduct by the arresting/citation officer” who put the driver in contact with a specific attorney “who if hired, would ensure that no court case would be filed in court by APD.”
Since officers are informed about citizen complaints, the department jumped to quash that investigation which Chief Medina said prompted an “emergency meeting” with the FBI.
CONCLUSION
The DWI Enterprise scandal to dismiss DWI cases for bribes is largest law enforcement corruption case in the city’s history involving the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), the Bernalillo County Sheriff’ Department (BCSO) and the New Mexico State Police. It now appears that APD’s Internal Affairs credibility has also been seriously undermined or tainted by the scandal. Until all the questions are answered regarding the extent of interference by Thomas Clear, Ricardo “Rick” Mendez, Mark Landavazo and Gustavo Gomez with Internal Affairs investigations to deflect disciplinary action against those involved in the scheme, confidence in APD and Internal Affairs will not be fully restored.
There is absolutely no doubt that APD’s reputation has been trashed to a major extent because of this scandal. APD is viewed by many as again having just another bastion of “dirty and corrupt cops” who have brought dishonor to their department and their badge and to the department’s professed values of “Pride, Integrity, Fairness and Respect”. There is little doubt that this whole DWI dismissal bribery scandal has shaken the public’s faith in our criminal justice system and APD to its core. Now the public is learning that BCSO and New Mexico State Police Officers may also be involved.
The only way that any semblance of faith can be restored and for people to begin trusting APD and law enforcement in general again is if all the police officers involved in this scandal are held accountable and the lawyers involved are held accountable. That will only happen with aggressive prosecutions, convictions, and lengthy prison sentences for the law enforcement officers and attorneys involved in the “DWI Enterprise” scheme.
The link to a related article is here: